ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Weston Ochse is a former intelligence officer and special operations soldier who has engaged enemy combatants, terrorists, narco smugglers, and human traffickers. His personal war stories include performing humanitarian operations over Bangladesh, being deployed to Afghanistan, and a near miss being cannibalized in Papua New Guinea.
His fiction and non-fiction has been praised by USA Today, The Atlantic, The New York Post, The Financial Times of London, and Publishers Weekly. The American Library Association labeled him one of the Major Horror Authors of the 21st Century. His work has also won the Bram Stoker Award, been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, and won multiple New Mexico-Arizona Book Awards. A writer of more than 26 books in multiple genres, his military supernatural series SEAL Team 666 has been optioned to be a movie starring Dwayne Johnson. His military sci fi series, which starts with Grunt Life, has been praised for its PTSD-positive depiction of soldiers at peace and at war.
Weston likes to be called a chaotic good paladin and challenges anyone to disagree. After all, no one can really stand a goody two-shoes lawful good character. They can be so annoying. It's so much more fun to be chaotic, even when you're striving to save the world. You can argue with him about this and other things online at Living Dangerously or on Facebook at Badasswriter. All content of this blog is copywrited by Weston Ochse.

Saturday, July 26, 2014

DRUNKEN CREAMY CHICKEN NOODLE SOUP

It's been
scientifically proven that chicken noodle soup helps fight colds. You can
believe it or not and just throw pharmaceuticals down your gullet, or you can
do the great tasting healthy alternative. A recent NY Times article broke it
down.

The most
widely cited of these studies, published in the medical journal Chest in 2000,
is by Dr. Stephen Rennard of the University of Nebraska Medical Center in
Omaha. He conducted laboratory tests to determine why chicken soup might help
colds, beginning with his wife’s homemade
recipe, handed down by her Lithuanian grandmother. Using blood samples from
volunteers, he showed that the soup inhibited the movement of neutrophils, the
most common type of white blood cell that defends against infection. Dr. Rennard
theorizes that by inhibiting the migration of these infection-fighting cells in
the body, chicken soup essentially helps
reduce upper respiratory cold symptoms. (To read the whole article go here)

How can
you argue with a Lithuanian grandmother, much less the NY Times? But if you're
reading this, I doubt I have to sell you on the feel-good properties of chicken
noodle soup. You, like me, prefer it, using it as a warm blanket for the soul.

You could
get some creamy chicken ramen. God knows it's terrific, but it has enough
sodium and fat to make it the food version of an anti-tank missile. Don't forget that ramen noodles are fried
before they are placed in the nice plastic package. You never knew that? Well, now you know.

You could
also go the canned soup option, but again, the sodium is very high, and
frankly, why?

If you
make this recipe you'll have enough soup for ten people, which means you can
freeze whatever you don't eat and thaw it out when needed. And let me tell you, when you make
this and try this, you'll never go back to canned again.

So here
goes.

For
the Stock

1 (2 - 5
pound chicken)

3.5 quarts water

1 onion
roughly chopped

4 bay
leaves

3 chicken bouillon cubes*

1.5 tsp
oregano

1.5 tsp
basil

3 tsp
grated lemon

3 cloves
minced garlic

Kosher
salt and freshly ground black pepper

*I prefer
to use the Better Than Bouillon Low Sodium Chicken Base. It's as rich or more
in flavor and has less sodium than the cubes. But if you can't find this, then
use bouillon. Just don't use store-bought stock. It defeats the purpose of
making your own.

For
the stock: This is how I do it. I add all the stock ingredients to a large soup pot. I chop up the chicken
into smaller pieces. I leave the skin on to add a deep robust flavor, but when
I remove the chicken later, I throw away the skin. Cook until chicken is tender
which turns out to be about 65 minutes. Boil, then simmer covered. Once tender,
remove the chicken from the pot and set aside to cool. Remove the bay leaves
and onion and toss. Once the chicken is cool enough, shred chicken using
two forks. Toss bones, skin and cartilage. Don't forget to save the wishbone for later

For
the soup: Bring stock back to a boil, add carrots, and cook for 3 minutes.
Add celery and continue to cook for 6 minutes. Add egg noodles and cook
according to directions on package (about 11 minutes). I prefer No Yolk Egg Noodles which are
lower in cholesterol and sodium. When the noodles are almost done, add
mushrooms, parsley, and rosemary. Add the brandy, ensuring that the cook gets a
quick shot so he or she can make it through the rest of the cooking. I then add
the chicken back in, then the Parmesan and cream. Cook for another 2 minutes on
a rolling bowl to marry all the ingredients (uncovered), then turn off.

Leave
uncovered for ten minutes.

Adjust
seasoning, if needed, by adding salt and pepper. This is a lower sodium meal
than comes in the can or at restaurants, so be careful to only add as much
sodium as you need. Too much sodium is never good.

Enjoy along with a nice hot crusty loaf of
French or sourdough
bread.

An
alternative to the rosemary would be sage. If you're just not a fan of rosemary or just want to try something new, you could add sage instead. I'd add an
additional tsp because of the difference in flavor strengths. Lucky for us we
love rosemary and have it growing wild in out front yard as you can see.

Something
else to be said for high desert living.

Please enjoy
and let me know how it turns out. And remember, you can always enjoy a bowl of soup with one my books, either in your hands, or listening to it from Audible.com. Food for the body, mind and soul.

Weston Ochse is the author of more than twenty books, most recently the SEAL Team 666 series which has been optioned by MGM Films. He's also the author of the Grunt Life series, a military science fiction series concentrating on the lives of PTSD survivors. His first novel, Scarecrow Gods, won
the Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in First Novel and his
short fiction has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize. His work has
appeared in comic books, and magazines such as Cemetery Dance and
Soldier of Fortune. He lives in the Arizona desert within rock throwing
distance of Mexico. He is a military veteran with more than 30 years of military
service and currently returned from a deployment to Afghanistan.